


It’s You

by myladyriver



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, character stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-14 03:37:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12999018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myladyriver/pseuds/myladyriver
Summary: She pulled the ribbon right and settled her elbows on her knees, her fingers partially laced together, fidgeting. “My study of the Unforgivables-“ the last word was scathing. “Was...unorthodox, you might say.” She sighed, tugged her hair from its restraint and pulled it over her shoulder, braiding it loosely as she continued. “I was a firsthand student of my father’s.”





	It’s You

“Where did you learn to do that?” Hermione asked, with less care than usual, still seeing bits and pieces of last night’s battle playing in her mind. “Voldemort?” Bellatrix shook her head, her curls bouncing and fluttering, tickling her shoulders. She snagged a long black silk ribbon from her bedside table and gathered her hair behind her and worked on tying it back as her tried to work out how to answer.  
“He asked me the same thing once, back when I was still in school.” She pulled the ribbon right and settled her elbows on her knees, her fingers partially laced together, fidgeting. “My study of the Unforgivables-“ the last word was scathing. “Was...unorthodox, you might say.” She sighed, tugged her hair from its restraint and pulled it over her shoulder, braiding it loosely as she continued. “I was a firsthand student of my father’s.”  
Hermione’s stomach turned at those words, aware already, at least roughly, of the kind of man Bella’s father had been.  
“He was a sadistic fucking bastard,” Bellatrix added bluntly, her candidacy stemming from sheer exhaustion of mind and spirit. “But,” she emphasized abruptly, “the cruelty I learned at home saved my life. Azkaban, Rodolphus, the Dark Lord— I am still here. And the fact that I can thank my father for that…” She wrapped her arms around her stomach, her braid half finished, and hunched her shoulders.  
“It’s not him,” Hermione murmured, leaning in and resting her hand on Bella’s knee. “It’s you. No one else held on to themselves through Azkaban, no one did that for you. No one else’s Occlumency is holding against Voldemort the ways yours is, let alone as his right hand. No one survived for you, Bella. You did that. Not your family, not your old Master, just you. Just you.” Moving slowly, she softly kissed Bella’s cheek and finished braiding her curls.  
Bellatrix snorted, resting her forehead on Hermione’s shoulder, mumbling into her collarbone. All Hermione caught was “so full of shit.”


End file.
